Nothing We Can Do
by escarr15
Summary: What if they were late for Martha's appointment? 4x7 Cops and Robbers, where the Castles aren't inside the bank. Obvious spoilers for that episode. Title from Cops and Robbers by The Hoosiers - "If we catch a criminal, when we catch a criminal, there's nothing we can do but play cops and robbers". For seilleanmor because she is a special bean who has written much fic.
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet day for Kate Beckett. The homicide team weren't on a case and Gates had made it clear that this would be an opportune time for them to catch up on their mound of paperwork. Not only was this a long and arduous task but it meant another day without Castle. As they spent longer apart between cases, she is finding it harder to keep herself from telling him how she really feels.

Kate is startled out of her reverie by a ring. Speak of the devil.

"What do you want, Castle?"

* * *

Castle is unimpressed. The last thing he wants to do is accompany his mother to her loan meeting, especially as she'd refused to let him give her the money. New Amsterdam was a great bank but he highly doubted his mother would have much luck with her excessive spending habits and questionable credit history. To add to his annoyance it was another day without a murder, and that meant he had no reason to see Beckett. Even as they walked down Lexington Avenue he crossed his fingers and clutched his phone, hoping he might be saved by a phone call.

They're a stone's throw away from the bank and no-one's been murdered. Castle tunes out of his mother's nattering about her plans for the acting studio and spots 4 figures in scrubs heading towards the bank. Doctors needed money too, he guessed, but it seemed strange to go to the bank in a group.

Martha stops at the edge of the sidewalk, rummaging in her bag for her appointment book. Trust his mother to have to triple check the timing of her appointment. He unlocks his phone and his finger hovers over Beckett's number.

As they walk towards the entrance he hears shouts from inside and does a double take. It might be wishful thinking but somehow he is already calling Beckett and he now prays that there hasn't been a murder and she's free to help with whatever this crisis is. At least it would be an excuse to see her face.

"What do you want, Castle?" he hears her ask, vaguely disinterested.

"I think this bank is being robbed" he replies, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Castle, I think your writer's imagination is getting away with you" she says with a laugh

He hears shrieks and a muffled shout from inside the bank. "It is not my imagination. It's definitely not my imagination," Castle protests. He starts to back away from the entrance, ignoring his mother's confused demeanour

"Castle, what's happening? Where are you?" Kate asks, panicked now.

"I'm outside the New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex"

* * *

Of course Castle would find himself outside the site of a bank robbery. Knowing him she's surprised he's not inside where the action is. But at least that means he's safe.

Even so, they have a duty to the people inside the bank. "Esposito! There's a 10-30 New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex. Call dispatch"

Ryan looks at her quizzically. "10-30? Since when are we handling bank robbery calls?"

"Castle's outside" Kate replies. That two word phrase is enough and Ryan and Esposito scramble for their phones. In that split second Beckett forgets that Castle is still on the line, her initial training kicks in and her main priority is to help the hostages.

Her thoughts return to her partner. "Castle, I need you to listen very carefully. What do you know?" She only hopes that he might have used that writers brain to make stupid assumptions. He had been moaning about this meeting with the bank for days and she knows that he fantasises about murders being committed in the weirdest of situations. That's one of the reasons she…well, she's not quite ready to finish that sentence.

"There were some guys wearing doctors' scrubs. Maybe four. They looked odd." Doctors scrubs? There were numerous hospitals in that area but maybe he was right. Going to the bank straight from surgery didn't seem like a normal occurrence, especially not in a group.

"We'll check them out. Can you see anything?"

"All I know is that they've secured the door. We stayed back" Beckett can hear the faint sound of Martha asking her son what is going on. "Beckett? It's the guys in scrubs. Someone just peered out the door. He looked like he had a gun"

"We're on our way, stay where you are, OK?" Kate ends the call hurriedly and grabs her coat. She turns to Ryan and Esposito. "Let's go" she says, already halfway to the elevator, and the boys dutifully follow before Gates even looks up from her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere inside New Amsterdam Bank and Trust is almost unbearable. It was a normal day until the doctors appeared. Of course they weren't real doctors, they had guns, but they revealed that far too late for anyone to do anything about it.

Mr Davenport, the bank manager, was already in a bad mood. His last meeting should have been finished and then he would have been free to head off on his golfing weekend in California. Instead his client hadn't even bothered to turn up. It was a shame because he was rather a fan of Martha Rogers and hoped that in signing a loan she would also sign something personally for him.

"Everybody get down on the floor!" comes a shout from one of the robbers. All Davenport's fantasies disappear as he realises the reality of the situation. They're being robbed and he can't stop it.

"Move, move, move, move, move, move, move!" shouts another robber. Davenport reaches for the phone and then decides against it. The robbers would spot it for a start and he rather wanted to live long enough to take his well-earned holiday.

"Slide up your cell phones now! Hurry up now! Come on!" At least he didn't have a cell. His wife made him ditch the work phone after one too many late night work queries from Tokyo and he never took his personal cell on work days to stop his meetings being interrupted by his aging aunt asking about the stock market.

"Move away from your stations!" All the robbers were taking now, "You, bank manager, over here." Davenport edges away from his office and is immediately hurled against the main desk by one of the robbers. Yanking the manager's key from around his neck, the robber throws him to the ground and he almost falls on top of another hostage. He can only watch as the thieves head towards the back of the bank and someone else empties the cash drawers.

Everyone is lying on the floor by now and the three of the bank robbers circle their hostages. One of the phones ring and without flinching the leader stomps on it. "Anyone call the cops?" he shouts. There is a rustling as each hostage violently shakes their head. The fourth bank robber appears with one of the staff coming back from the restroom.

"All right, kiss the floor like the others. Come on! Get down!" She quivers as she lowers herself to the floor.

"Doctor Huxtable, let's go!"

"Alright, bank cameras are down. Memory drives destroyed." These people were professionals. They had code names and they knew all the measures to stop the cops getting information on what was happening inside the bank. Nevertheless they can hear the sirens and the lead bank robber peers out the door.

"Cops! Alright, doctors! We've trained for this! You know what to do! It looks like we're all going to get to know each other a lot better."

The bank falls silent. The hostage situation had suddenly become very real.


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you think you're doing?" Esposito asks as the elevator doors close. "This isn't our area."

"Castle called us." Beckett replies, trying to keep her voice steady. "He's a witness and that means he's important"

"Let hostage negotiation deal with it" Esposito argues, "The last thing we want is Gates busting you down to traffic for interfering with someone else's case"

"He could have called 911." Beckett tries to reason with her friend. "He called us. He's part of the team."

"You know he only called because of you," Ryan turns to Beckett, "You know how frustrated he gets when he doesn't see you."

Beckett ignores this reference to Castle's devotion to her. Sooner or later she's going to have to face it, but right now she'd much rather face 3XK. "Look, it's investigating New Amsterdam or paperwork, I know which one I'd rather do." The elevator reaches the ground floor and Ryan and Esposito look at each other. Beckett is right and with a shrug they follow her out to the car.

* * *

Of course they weren't going to get out of the building without Gates getting suspicious. No sooner have they slammed the car doors, Beckett's cell lights up and she begrudgingly puts her boss on speakerphone.

"Where on earth are you three going?" Gates accusatory tone fills the car. "Last time I looked we don't cover bank robberies, not unless it's some cover up for murder"

"Sir, Castle's there" Beckett responds, her voice faltering. "He needs us."

"It's not our department, Detective Beckett. We've had back to back murders these past few weeks, and right now is the time to be writing up those cases. Castle is not a member of this police force and you would do well to remember that."

Arguing with Gates was futile, Kate knew that. But she had a burning need to be with Castle, to help him. His voice on the phone was full of panic that he'd tried, and failed, to hide from her. She made one last attempt to reason with her boss. "Sir, I'm worried he'll try and do something stupid. I promised him we'd be there and the last thing we want is him interfering in a hostage situation."

Gates is silent for a minute and then she replies. "Beckett, I hope you know what you're getting into. Pick him up and get straight back to the precinct. Next time you don't promise him anything." The line goes dead and all three detectives breathe a sigh of relief.

"I think she's starting to like Castle," Ryan says with a smile. Beckett rolls her eyes, fastens her seatbelt and slams on the gas.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the heck is going on, Richard?" Martha asks as Castle hangs up the phone with Beckett.

He shushes her. "It looks like the bank's being robbed. Beckett's on her way and we're going to stay right here"

"Richard! Why is it that every time we go anywhere your imagination gets the better of you!" Great, his partner and his mother both react like he's lying. Maybe being an author does have its downsides.

His mother has disappeared from his side and is sauntering towards the doors of the bank. "Mother!" he hisses and she turns round. Her face falls, hearing the distant sound of sirens and shouts from inside the bank. He didn't expect it would take that little time for her to realise that he was telling the truth.

The sirens are louder now and three squad cars and a mobile command unit screech round the corner. Armed police surround the bank and Castle and Martha find themselves being pushed back from the scene. He is about to protest when he sees Beckett get out of her car and flash her badge at the rookie policeman who was about to move her along. Spotting Castle she runs over and takes charge.

"They're with me" she flashes her badge once again, "Are you two OK?"

"We should've been inside!" Martha cries thankfully, "I got the timing wrong, the bank manager will be fuming!" For once Castle is pleased with his mother's disorganisation, but he didn't want to mention that it might have actually saved their lives.

He looks around the area. Cops are everywhere and the red lasers from the snipers are fixed on the entrance of the bank. Beckett calls Ryan over to take care of Martha and turns to Castle. "Fancy telling command what you know" she asks, already knowing the answer will be in the affirmative. He could never resist telling people his theories. Ignoring Esposito's accusatory glare she leads Castle over to the command post, feeling strangely protective of him. He was right, he should have been inside that bank and she says a silent prayer of thanks to all the gods she could think of.

* * *

The command post is already full of officers from hostage negotiation. For once Beckett feels underqualified, perhaps she should have heeded Gates' advice. But then she remembers Castle and his stubborn nature and how much safer he is when she's looking for answers with him. She flashes her badge at the officer by the door, along with a smile for good measure, and leads Castle inside.

"I need S.W.A.T. analysis, SitRep, building blueprints, five minutes. Who are you?" is the response from the officer in charge, Captain Peterson. His well built frame adds to his authority, not dampened by his bald head, although Beckett would have recommended he lost a bit of weight if she knew him better.

"Detective Kate Beckett, Homicide" she replies, trying to sound like she's meant to be there.

It doesn't work. "I'll be sure to call if someone dies" Peterson responds, "Meanwhile, I need you to step outside"

"No, sir" Kate interrupts, "My partner reported the 10-30"

"Wait, we got a cop in there?" Peterson sounds hopeful and Kate can't blame him. Hostage situations are quite rare but take time and manpower, not to mention the stress for those involved. Mess up a hostage situation and you mess yourself up for life.

With a sigh Kate gives her reply. "He's a civilian investigator. He rang me from outside when they took over the bank. He said that there's four suspects in there, they're dressed up in doctors' scrubs."

"Anything else you can tell me?" Peterson is sceptical and Kate knows it. She doesn't have a chance to respond when Castle pops his head round the corner.

"Yeah, I'm the partner" Castle says with boyish confidence, "I saw them enter and then they secured the doors"

"What was the demeanour?" Peterson asks, not willing to hang around or let either of them get involved in his case.

"Calm, very calm" Castle replies, "Almost jokey actually"

"Thanks for the intel. We'll do everything we can to get those people out safe." Peterson's reply is almost clinical and Beckett is almost surprised, until she remembers that this is what he does every day.

"Okay, so what's our next move?" Kate asks, determined to hold on to some form of involvement in the case.

"Well, your next move is to leave my command post." It is clear that Peterson is not going to change his mind over Kate being involved in the case, but she opens her mouth in a last ditch attempt to stay on the case. Peterson, however, keeps talking. "You want to help those people? Let me do my job."

Beckett is silenced and her face falls. Castle has disappeared altogether from the command post and she starts to feel she should do the same. Yet as Peterson barks instructions at the rest of his team she is frozen to the spot. The hostages are in a life and death situation and Castle was minutes away from being part of that. She starts to smile as Peterson turns back to her.

"You missed your cue, Detective." Beckett nods and with a subtle roll of her eyes scarpers outside to be met by Castle and Esposito.

"What did you find out?" Castle asks eagerly. Kate is surprised, he must be preoccupied to not have stuck around for the entire conversation with Peterson.

"That our services aren't needed," she responds, "Espo, do you still have buddies in ESU?"

"Of course," Esposito replies nonchalantly. She knows he doesn't want to help but the lure of a day without paperwork is too strong for all of them to resist.

"Good, I want to know what they know. And let's get a hold of Major Crimes. Find out if there are any other robberies with similar M.O.s. The more we know about these guys, the more leverage we got." She doesn't care if Peterson doesn't want their help, she's in too deep to go back to the precinct and grovel to Gates so they might as well do their own investigating.

It was only a minute since she'd left the command post when one of the officers shouted to her. "Detective Beckett! Captain Peterson would like a word." Maybe she was about to get more involved than she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

"Tell me, what were you thinking?" Peterson barks at Kate as soon as she crosses the threshold of his command post. Her unease is all over her face as she tries to work out what on earth she has done to get Peterson so irate.

"I was just trying to help out, sir" she replies, hesitantly. Surely he cannot be this angry over her passing on Castle's intel?

"What, by gallivanting around with author boy?"

"What?" Beckett struggles to catch her breath. How was her relationship with Castle relevant to a hostage negotiation? She looks quizzically back to Peterson.

"We get him on the horn, but before I get two words out, he says, and I quote, 'I will only talk to the lady cop, Nikki Heat'. Yeah, that's you. You wanted in? Well, you're in." Peterson replies firmly.

"No sir, I don't have any training in hostage negotiations." Beckett is sure she's in too deep. Mess this up and she knows Gates will suspend her on the spot. Normally it was Castle getting into scrapes like this, making reckless decisions. Now Castle isn't anywhere to be seen and she's stuck in a situation caused by his revived writing career. She almost wishes that he hadn't been a suspect of that Allison Tisdale murder that started the whole thing and then she thinks of how happy she is to see his face every morning, perhaps too happy.

She snaps back to reality and Peterson responds disapprovingly. "Well, I don't have time to give you a seminar, so think of it like this. You do the opposite of whatever your homicide training tells you, okay? So don't yell, don't bully, don't threaten them in any way. It's all about keeping 'em calm. Detective, you up for this?"

Beckett stiffens. She can't back out now, yet she isn't quite sure she's strong enough to successfully get those hostages out. She looks at Peterson and sees the determination in his eyes. She's by no means his last hope, but her co-operation would certainly aid the smooth running of his operation.

"Yeah. Yeah, absolutely," she replies, taking off her jacket and hanging it on the hook. She tries to hide the tremor in her hand as Peterson continues to explain hostage negotiation.

"Now, it's important to keep 'em talking." Peterson continues, "You gotta build rapport. As long as he's busy talking, he's not busy hurting hostages."

"Okay." Beckett replies, her voice shaking.

"Okay?" Peterson looks unconvinced. She can't blame him. She's the strong-willed, stubborn detective who fights to get involved with the case, and then when she gets that chance, she hesitates to say yes. Castle would be loving this. A chance to play hero and for once he's nowhere to be seen. Her mind starts to wander, she hopes Espo took him along to speak to ESU and major crimes. At least in this unfamiliar environment with an unfamiliar team he can't interfere, but she suddenly feels his absence and wishes he was with her.

She banishes Castle from her mind and turns back to the job at hand. She turns away from Peterson and nods, murmering a "Mm-hmm" as she takes her seat. She adjusts her headset and dials the number for the bank.

Gates was right, she should have stuck with paperwork.


	6. Chapter 6

The hostages, as they feel they can now be known, are sat in a circle in the middle of the bank. Davenport can feel the sweat building on his brow and takes a sweeping look at his staff and customers. Simone, now 32 weeks pregnant, is about to cry and one of the customers has starting rocking back and forth.

The bank robber referred to as Dr Huxtable starts to speak. "Alright. I'm gonna make this real simple. You move, you die. Got it?" A wave of murmers and nods moves through the bank. They have little choice and their best hope of survival right now is cooperation.

Davenport clears his throat. "Is everyone OK, anyone hurt?" A survey of the rest of the hostages shows only shaking of heads so he continues, "Don't worry, we'll do as they say and the cops will get us out. Rest assured, you will be compensated for your experience." There's nothing worse for business than robbery and Davenport, as much as he cares about these people, cares a great deal for keeping his job.

One of the robbers glares at him and he shuffles uncomfortably, trying to find a seating position that doesn't cut off his circulation. Not only did he have a weekend of golf planned, he was meant to be stopping off at his sister's place to see her family. AJ, Lucy, Amy and Katie were fantastic children and Katie was already coming up to a year old, yet he hadn't seen her since just after she was born. He'd lost all concept of time but a bank robbery on this scale would probably have already hit the local news. Luckily he had planned to get a few rounds of golf in before heading to his sister's so she wouldn't be worrying about him yet, but if they didn't get out soon the situation might even become national news.

As Davenport's morale starts to fall, the phone rings. The leader of their captives picks up the receiver and barks "What?" into it. All hostage eyes turn towards him in anticipation.

Their hopes are dashed by his next words. "I don't care who you are. Get me Nikki Heat, the one from the books. I'll only talk to her." The receiver is slammed down and he cocks his gun, turning to the circle of hostages. "Anyone move, we shoot. Got it? We're in charge." There's a frantic nodding of heads and Simone, among others, starts to sob.

* * *

Kate Beckett listens to the phone ring, Peterson hovering over her shoulder. She crosses her fingers, hoping her chance to prove herself in hostage negotiation isn't scuppered at the first hurdle.

She catches her breath as the call connects. "Who's this?" comes the response from the other end of the line.

"This is Detective Kate Beckett. I understand that you wanted to speak with me."

"Nikki Heat?"

"You could call me that, yeah." Right now she really hated Castle and his books.

"Yeah, I don't like that other guy."

Beckett stifles a laugh. "Yeah, me neither." She catches sight of Peterson's raised eyebrows in the corner of her eye and turns to him, covering her mic. "You said to build a rapport." Ignoring his scepticism she turns her attention back to the phone call. "So, what's your name?"

"You can call me Trapper John," he replies, not missing a beat.

"A M*A*S*H* fan, that's nice. So how you doing? Anything I can do to help?"

"Oh, Kate, Kate, Kate. You're running that idiot's playbook, aren't you?" Kate blanches and Peterson tenses up. These definitely weren't idiots.

* * *

Inside the bank, the hostages listen to the leader, or Trapper John as he seems to be known.

"Oh, Kate, Kate, Kate. You're running that idiot's playbook, aren't you? What did Captain Confidence tell you? Keep me calm. Build rapport. Extract information. Here's how it's gonna work. You lie to me, I kill hostages. You jerk me around, I kill hostages. If you storm the bank, I kill hostages. And Kate..." Trapper John turns and points his gun at Davenport. "I'll start with the plucky bank manager." He slams the phone down and lingers before retracting his weapon and turning to talk with one of his accomplices.

One of the customers turns to Davenport, his fury directed at the man in charge. "Someone called the cops, they must have. If it wasn't for them, the bank robbers would have come and gone. We'd all be out of here."

Simone jumps to defend the rest of the hostages. "No. No, the cops were coming anyway. The bank robbers, they screwed up. They pulled the bottom bills from the cash drawer."

"Which automatically triggers the silent alarm, okay?" Davenport continues, "No one's fault." Simone gives him a thankful smile and rubs her belly, round from her pregnancy.

A customer glances at her name badge. "Simone, how far along are you?"

"32 weeks." Simone replies with a sigh.

"Aww," the customer coos, along with most of the rest of the women in the room. She tuts, "Holding a pregnant woman hostage? They should let you go."

Another hostage pushes his glasses up his nose and turns to her. "Lady, they're not letting her go. They're not letting any of us go. I've seen this movie before. I know how it ends. All of us dead." Everyone gasps and Simone starts sobbing again.

Davenport watches his staff and customers start to fall apart and seeks to regain control. "Listen, we aren't going to die. It'll be fine. The police were on the phone and they'll get us out." He surveys the room. A few people smile at him but his words are largely ignored. He shuffles on the floor and crosses his fingers for the police to come before Trapper John delivers on his threat.


	7. Chapter 7

Kate hangs up the phone and looks to Peterson. She can't tell whether she's done well or failed miserably. Peterson is giving nothing away and she already feels run down and dejected.

"Well, we learned one thing." Peterson begins.

"What's that?" Beckett asks.

"He's not a punk who just woke up and decided to rob a bank. He know what he's doing. He knows our playbook. This guy's a pro." Peterson turns to one of his officers, "S.W.A.T. tap into the, uh, cameras at the bank yet?"

"Still working on it, sir." Officer Montfriez responds, "Also, there's a Susan Craig for the bank's green branch on line four." Peterson nods and Kate looks around at the rest of the team. They are all getting on with tasks she assumes are helpful in the investigation. She breathes a heavy sigh and stands up.

"Sir, what do you want me to do?" she asks, impatiently.

"Nothing." is Peterson's abrupt response.

"I'm sorry?" She can't believe she's heard him right. Castle may not be in that bank, but the people inside are just as valuable to others as he is to her. She can't imagine just sitting here while hostages are potentially getting killed.

"It's not a homicide, Detective," Peterson responds, somewhat exasperated. "It's not all about moving forward or digging for the next clue. Here, sometimes no move is the best move. Let Trapper John think about things and then we'll call him back." Peterson turns away and Kate sighs again, leaning back on the chair. She's frustrated and flustered and sneaks away for some fresh air. After all, it's not like they desperately need her.

* * *

The coolness of the air hits her as she steps down from the command post. She hadn't realised quite how hot it was inside but now she's left she can feel the beads of sweat on her brow. A voice in her head tells her to get a grip but her heart is pounding just like on her first day at the academy. Then she remembers the real reason she went outside and looks around for Castle.

She doesn't have far to look as Castle bounds up to her, no longer subdued. "What did they say" he asks excitably. She knew this bank hostage situation would be his thing and now the shock of him discovering the robbery has worn off he's obviously keen to be involved.

"It's a slow process." Kate replies, hesitantly, "It's about keeping them talking, negotiating. They don't need me much. Where's Espo?" Suddenly she can't focus on the one thing that took her out of the command post and she feels out of control. She takes a deep breath. Castle mustn't notice that there is anything wrong, although she is sure she's already a concealment expert with him.

"Umm, over there, I think. Why?" Castle cocks his head. She can hear the concern in his voice.

"I wanna see what's up with ESU," she responds with an air of authority, "The more we know, the more we can use as leverage with the robbers."

"Oh." Castle looks downheartened and gestured behind Kate towards Esposito and some other officers, "He's over there." Kate turns to see Esposito striding back in her direction.

"Anything?" she calls over to him.

"All bad news. ESU can't get eyes or ears inside," Esposito replies, sombrely. "Bank cameras are disabled and the walls are too thick to drill from outside"

"So what if ESU storms the bank?" Castle asks, eagerly but with a hint of concern. Kate glares at him and he is aware that this was exactly what she was about to say.

"They'll be going in blind" Esposito responds, now addressing both of them. Sometimes he wishes that Beckett and her new partner weren't so in sync.

"And, in your experience, in this scenario, what are the hostages' chances of survival?" Beckett asks. Things don't look good and Espo's long look to the bank fills her with dread.

"I don't wanna say," he answers, "Peterson's a good guy. They should be OK with him." He flashes a reassuring smile at her.

"Where's Ryan and my mother?" Castle cuts in, keen to change the subject to something less morbid.

"They were in the car," Beckett replies, "Wanna go check on them?" Normally Castle would do anything to keep his mother out of the way while he's on a case, but he finds himself nodding furiously to Beckett's proposition and he follows her towards the car.


	8. Chapter 8

Today is not Ryan's day. Not only did it start off with paperwork from the last few cases but Jenny had given him a load of wedding admin to do, and now he's stuck in the car with Castle's mother. He has nothing against Martha and at times he would happily spend time in her company, especially when she's embarrassing Castle, but being virtually trapped in a confined space with her is not how he wants to spend his afternoon. One dramatic monologue was enough for him and now she seems to be on her third: she's gone through the events prior to the robbery, her plans for the acting studio, and now Alexis' college plans.

"Well, of course we want her to go to Stanford, we all do, but I keep telling her 'Alexis, Ashley does not dictate where you go to school' and she knows that, she does, but will she listen? No she won't! And don't get me started on Richard's attitude towards it..." Ryan tunes out from Martha's chatter again, muttering a few hmms and yeahs when she starts to go quiet. How long had they even been here? It can't have been more than fifteen minutes but it feels like hours.

"Mrs Rodgers?" he cuts in, "Why don't we take a walk, maybe get you back to your apartment?"

"Well, I'm sure that'd be very nice," Martha replies, somewhat unsure about why the shy detective is suddenly keen to get out of here, "We'd better tell Richard, make sure he knows I'm out of his hair."

"Right." Ryan smiles and almost leaps out of the car. He runs round to open Martha's side and she steps elegantly onto the tarmac, brushing her hair back as she straightens up. "They'll probably be up by the command post," he continues, slamming the car door, "We'll head over there first." He locks the car and starts walking towards the bank, leaving Martha speechless at his sudden decisiveness.

They had barely walked ten paces when Martha spots three figures heading in their direction. "Hey, isn't that my son, and Beckett and Esposito?"

"Umm, yeah. I guess we found them"

"Hey, Ryan!" shouts Beckett from the distance, "That you?"

"Yo Beckett" Ryan shouts back, "We were just coming to find you guys."

They come to a stop as a group. "So, what's up?" Beckett asks. Knowing Castle's mother, Ryan has probably got fed up of minding her, but Beckett knows that nothing is predictable in policing.

"Oh, you know, we just thought there was no point in Martha still being here so I figured take her home and then I could come help you guys with the investigation." Beckett resists the temptation to roll her eyes - he'd definitely got fed up.

"Well, I'm sure she could still be of use..." Esposito teases.

"Oh no!" Martha gasps, "I couldn't possibly spend a minute longer at this horrific crime scene, in fact I think I will take a cab home right now." Castle scoffs slightly at his mother's theatrical reaction. For a crime scene, apart from when you look at the potential danger, this is nothing. But he looks at the glint in her eye and knows that she has another agenda for keeping herself out of the picture. She isn't blind, but he's certainly not ready to face up to what she's thinking about.

"Oh Mrs Rodgers, of course you don't have to get a cab," Beckett says tenderly, looking to her right "Esposito will drive you and then he and Ryan can check things out at the precinct." She smiles sweetly to her partners, who grimace back at her. They may be equal in rank, but Beckett knows how to get the men to do things. Besides, she has hostage negotiation to deal with.

"Well, I guess we'd better head back to the car then," Martha says brightly, oblivious to Ryan and Esposito's discomfort. "Don't stick around too long Richard." Immediately she turns and starts strolling back to the cruiser, Ryan and Esposito trailing behind her.

"If I knew it was that easy to get rid of my mother I would have brought her to a hostage situation years ago" Castle smirks. Beckett shrugs and rolls her eyes. She won't admit it but she enjoys the time she spends on cases alone with Castle more than when other people are around.

"Come on, let's head back to the command post," Beckett responds, "Maybe they'll have some more news." With that they stride back to the scene, walking just slightly closer together than they were before.


	9. Chapter 9

They arrive back at the command post to a frenzy of activity. Files, forms and photos are strewn across every surface, with officers working to find out as much as they can about the bank. Beckett leans back against the wall with a heavy sigh and Castle has barely made it away from the doorway.

The buzz of discussion is broken by Officer Monfriez and the news that the robbers are on the line again. Beckett takes her seat in silence and puts her headset on.

"Remember the strategy" Peterson says, looking her in the eye. She mutters a yes and answers the phone.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asks Trapper John.

"So far, so good," comes the smug reply, amplified to everyone in the command post via the speakerphone. Beckett takes a deep breath, restraining herself from unleashing her rage over the phone line.

"Yeah? And how are the hostages?" she replies, attempting to speak at a normal pace, "Pretty concerned about the pregnant bank teller, Simone. It's kind of a stressful situation, might want to get her out of there." She surveys the file with Simone's photo on and feels a pang of sadness that she may not get out OK.

"No, no, no, Kate." Trapper John responds, not missing a beat, "You gotta give before you can receive."

Beckett's face falls but she maintains her tone of voice. "Okay, what would you like?"

"A bus with tinted windows. It'll take me, my partners, and my hostages to Teterboro airport. There you're gonna have a plane waiting to take us to the foreign country of my choosing. Now, you do that, I give you the knocked up bank teller. Once we land in paradise, I'll release the rest of the hostages. And Kate. You got three hours." The line goes dead and Beckett lets out a heavy sigh.

"Alright Monfriez," Captain Peterson barks at his officer, "Find me a bus with tinted windows and get it over here."

"Wait a minute, you're actually giving him what he wants?" Beckett can hardly believe what she is hearing. Surely they should be arresting these men not letting them fly off to somewhere far away, probably where the robbers can slip away from arrest. She looks accusingly at Peterson.

"Of course not." Peterson answers, "The only way that guy's leaving that building is either in handcuffs or a body bag. But if it comes to it, I can use that bus to lure the robbers out, have snipers take 'em out." Beckett relaxes slightly before noticing a commotion outside.

"There's a man kicking off by the cordon, sir." Officer Monfriez exclaims.

"I'll go." Beckett shoots out of her chair and is out the door before Peterson can open his mouth, Castle following behind her.

* * *

Kate walks out of the command post, flustered but determined. She cannot let these lowlife robbers get the better of them. She glances back to Castle: this case has subdued him and for once she wishes he was more talkative. However, right now her priority is to stop the shouting man at the cordon and she flashes her badge at the reinforcements trying to calm him down.

"Detective Kate Beckett," she says authoritatively, "What's the problem here?" She smiles at the man, who must be at least seventy.

"I need to get to my safety deposit box." He speaks in a rushed manner and Beckett can tell that he is panicking.

"Sir, the bank is in lockdown," Beckett replies, her voice calm and level, "I'm sure once this is all sorted out, the bank staff would be happy to let you access it."

"But you don't understand," he bumbles, "I need to get to that box, it's important." The man's voice is getting louder and louder and people are starting to take an interest.

"Why don't we go someplace quieter?" she requests, keeping eye contact, "We can't let you into the bank, but maybe there's some way of getting your box in a couple of hours." The man looks bemused by this, a brazen detective with kind eyes, and nods. Beckett reaches out an arm and lightly leads him away from the cordon into the office block across the street where some of the other police officers have been working and taking their breaks. She explains to the receptionist about needing a room to talk and they are led down a plush corridor into a vacant office, newly painted. After hostage negotiation, she's looking forward to hearing the mystery man's story.


	10. Chapter 10

The hostages shuffle uncomfortably, still seated in their circle on the floor of the bank. Davenport is thankful that the robbers came at a fairly quiet period in his day and that the branch is quite sizable. Then he realises that he wouldn't be in this situation if he was still in the run down branch of MacPherson and Sons back in his home town, especially because since MacPherson had seven daughters and no sons he'd packed up the business and retired.

He'd love to know what the robbers are up to though. His neck feels empty without his manager's key, although he cannot remember anything in the safety deposit boxes worth stealing that would require a robbery on this scale. It's mainly jewellery and a few clients with hi-tech product developments, but company policy on disclosure of particularly valuable objects means that New Amsterdam is not the place to keep the Mona Lisa or important pieces of the Berlin Wall.

He knows escaping is not an option. He may have seen Die Hard but after the many complaint letters he's received during his time as manager he does not need reminding that the bathrooms at the bank are poorly ventilated and have no connection to the outside world. Despite this he has a dire need to stretch his legs and use the facilities. The safety deposit boxes are behind the gate to the staff welfare area so he could easily catch a glimpse of their activities. He'd lost track of how long it was since his last break too: he'd had back to back appointments all day so it must have been hours.

He stands up tentatively and can hear the sound of guns being pointed at his head. He lifts his hands and looks to the bank robber calling himself Dr Howser.

"Uh, Mr Howser," he begins.

"You got a death wish?" Dr Howser replies, raising his gun.

"No, it's just I've been in meetings all day and I could really do with using the restroom pretty soon." He smiles tentatively as Howser looks to Dr Quinn, the female bank robber. She nods and Howser gestures for Davenport to follow him. He mutters a thanks and Davenport is led through corridors that just a few hours ago he was leading customers through, taking careful note of what his captors are doing in the safety deposit box room.

* * *

Davenport returns to the hostage circle none the wiser, although from the response from the hostages over further restroom runs it seems that starting the trend was a good idea. The only thing he gleaned from his quick peek at Trapper John in the safety deposit box room was that he was removing letters and photos – not exactly the heist of the century. Still, maybe he was killing two birds with one stone and getting some momentos before disappearing: he wouldn't be able to come back to New Amsterdam after robbing it after all.

The gate to the back of the back clangs open and closed and another hostage emerges, white as a sheet. His breath quickens as he lowers himself to the floor.

"Hey, when I was coming back, I..." the man begins, struggling to get the words out. "I got a glimpse inside their...their duffle bag. There were white bricks with wires and timers attached to it. I...I think it could be C4." He starts to rock rhythmically back and forth, evidently trying to calm down.

"C4? Are you sure?" Davenport replies, trying to keep a calm façade.

"Yeah. They're gonna blow us all up!" In normal circumstances the man would have shouted but he made do with a shrill whisper.

"Calm down." Davenport says, raising his voices slightly, "Just calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down? I've got a family to think about."

"We all have families," Simone hisses, "Now, calm down."

Davenport pauses, thinking about how to calm this evidently anxious man. "What's your name?" he asks tentatively.

"Sal," the man replies, "Sal Martino." He is already breathing slower, and Davenport continues.

"Okay. You got a wife, Sal? Kids?"

"Yeah," Sal replies, "I have a son."

"What's his name?"

"Connor."

"I bet the only thing you can think about is seeing him again, am I right?" Davenport thinks about his nieces, especially Katie, the youngest. They may not be direct relatives but he cannot contemplate the idea that he might never see them grow up. He's spent too much time ignoring the younger generations of his family that he's suddenly struck by the idea that he may have left it too late to build some bridges.

"You have no idea." Sal replies, only partly right.

"Good. You think about how you're gonna see Connor again real soon because the police are going to get us out of here. I promise." He thinks back to his last appointment, to Richard Castle, and to what Trapper John said on the phone. The last time Castle was here he was depositing some of the proceeds from his last book, a story to do with someone called Heat. He wasn't a fan of crime fiction but he was sure that Nikki Heat must be the name of Castle's detective. And if Trapper John was talking to a cop then Heat must be a real person, or at least close enough to one. He hopes she's as good as Castle's readers think she is.


	11. Chapter 11

Beckett closes the door to the impromptu interview lounge and motions for the old man to take a seat. She does the same and turns to face him, smiling warmly.

"What's your name?" she asks, knowing that this meeting will be fruitless without being able to address him as anything other than sir.

There is a pause. "Umm..." the man starts. "Gideon. Gideon Fields."

She chooses to ignore his odd hesitation and continues. "Hi Gideon. How can we help today?" Gates and the rest of the police leadership were big on the police as a wider entity so Beckett tries to portray the NYPD as working together as much as possible.

"I need to access my safety deposit box." Gideon's reply is blunt.

"Mr Fields," Beckett looks him straight in the eye. "There are currently an unknown number of people being held hostage in that bank. No-one can leave and that means no-one can go in either. We need to look after everyone associated with this bank so we can't let you put yourself in danger by trying to get in there. Now, is there any reason for your safety deposit box to be targeted?"

Gideon looks back at her, obviously surprised by her forceful yet caring approach. She can almost hear the cogs whirring in his brain as he figures out what to say next. She nods, hoping it will prompt a response.

"Well..." he begins, "It's only papers really. But it's my wife, we both access it you see, but she hasn't left anything for a while and I wasn't meant to come down today but I need to check that the documents are there, in case something's happened to her."

"But Mr Fields..." Beckett is unsure how to respond, "Surely you could just talk to your wife?"

"Err no, I couldn't possibly do that. She, well, we, I am estranged, in a way. We agreed no contact, you see, and we leave documents in our safety deposit box so our family have the records in one place." Beckett nods, glad of his disclosure but completely befuddled over the whole arrangement. Still, the older generation grew up without cells or house phones: if she won't see her husband, maybe there is no other way for Fields to check she's ok. Of course, none of this is relevant to the case.

"I see. Thank you Mr Fields. Which safety deposit box is yours? We may be able to check the records to see if the box has been accessed." She smiles warmly.

"It's box 120, I have the key..."

"Oh no, that won't be necessary. But we'll send a couple of cops to check on your wife, make sure she's ok."

"Well, thanks, I should go, I have an appointment." Gideon stands up hurriedly and Beckett does the same, ready to show him outside. The conversation hadn't gone as expected and she felt a little frazzled. Maybe it was the fact she had been completely alone in there: since having Castle around it seems like she's done her best interviews with an audience. Once Gideon's disappeared she'll find him, check how he's doing. He's not been himself all day.

* * *

She thanks Gideon for his help at the door and then heads back towards the command post. That's where she last saw Castle and sure enough he is waiting for her outside.

"Beckett!" he exclaims, beaming widely, "What's the deal with the man?" He seems to have bounced back from the shock a bit and she is glad. She needs him to be calm to keep her head level.

"Oh, just a frantic old man," she replies, "He had some arrangement with his wife and a safety deposit box, I'm going to get Espo and Ryan to check on her, they should be back at the precinct by now." She mounts the stairs to command, it seems sensible to check Gideon's story with the bank database before phoning through to the others. Castle hangs back.

"Err, I'm just gonna stick around here." Castle says, gesturing to the area outside the command post, "Check on my mother, you know."

"Course, I won't be too long." Beckett can't blame him for staying out of the command post. This hostage situation may have sounded exciting but command was hot and you could cut the tension with a knife. She smiles back at him and heads inside.

* * *

"Monfriez, do we still have access to bank records on the computer?" Beckett's voice commands the room the moment she steps inside.

"Err, yeah, got the records up here, do we have a break?" Monfriez replies, readily.

"I doubt it, but that man outside says he has a safety deposit box and I wanted to check if he is genuine." Beckett responds, watching his face fall.

"What's the details?" Monfriez taps away on his computer.

"It's Gideon Fields, box 120." Beckett smiles and Monfriez types rapidly into the bank database.

"Yep, box 120. Accessed monthly by Agnes and Gideon Fields for the past year or so, a small blip in the trend recently but nothing that caused the record to pop." Now it's Beckett's turn to be downhearted. It was never a strong lead but now she knows Gideon was telling the truth it's not even worth mentioning in despatches.

"Oh, OK thanks. I'll get my guys to check out the wife, apparently she hasn't accessed it in a while so that must have caused the blip." She waves at Peterson and heads back to the street, and to the subdued Castle.


	12. Chapter 12

Ryan and Esposito are almost glad to be back in the precinct with their paperwork. Martha is nice and Ryan was even a fan before he met her, but her monologue on the journey back to Castle's apartment was insufferably long and they were both glad to be back to proper police work. And with Gates' all seeing eye on them it looked like they would be getting on with a lot more paperwork than usual, especially after she realised they hadn't brought Castle or Beckett back as promised.

They had only been back 5 minutes when the phone rang. There was the usual scramble between them to answer it, but Esposito got there first, catching his breath before picking up the receiver.

"Hello, Detective Esposito," he says confidently.

"Hey Espo, look, can you do me a favour?" comes Beckett's voice on the other end of the line.

"Umm, yeah," he replies, lowering his voice to stop Gates from noticing, "What do you need? Any sign of getting the hostages out?"

"Not really, and I'm not sure this is going to help either." She signs before continuing, "There was a man at the bank, Gideon Fields, and he needed to check if his estranged wife had left anything in his safety deposit box. It hasn't been accessed since he was last there and he's worried something has happened to his wife but she forbade him from visiting her. Think you and Ryan could go check out her apartment, check if she is doing OK?"

"Well..." he hesitates, not wanting to mention the stern looks they got from the captain when they returned. "Gates is still very keen for us to do that paperwork, but we could ask..."

"Espo, I know she's not going to go for it, but this guy was worried. And there could be more than he's letting on, I don't get this no contact idea." The determination in her voice is increasingly evident and Esposito sighs. Gates is not going to be happy but he's going to have to swing it somehow. The wrath of Gates is almost nothing compared to Beckett's disappointed mood. Last time he upset her he ended up paying for her and Lanie to see Sex and the City 2 at the cinema and drive them there and back so they could have a drink.

"I'll text you when we're on our way." With that Esposito hangs up the phone, breathing a heavy sigh.

"So, what exactly did you agree to do for Beckett that Gates won't agree to" Ryan asks, quizzically.

"There was some guy at the crime scene, wants us to check on his wife." Esposito replies in a nonchalant manner.

"Why not just send some unis to do it? It's even further outside our department than the 10-30."

"Dude, this is Beckett. Do you want a repeat of Sex in the City?"

"It was Sex and the City 2. And besides, we didn't have Gates to deal with over that! She will stick us on paperwork for a month if we head out now."

"You know she can't do that. She'd lose the best part of her team. Look, maybe this is a lead for the bank robbery...Beckett was dubious but she wouldn't call us over some random old guy. It might be connected."

"You sound like Castle." Ryan sighs, resigning himself to Esposito's idea of checking out the guy's wife. "How are you going to swing it to Gates?"

"I thought I'd get Tory to check out a few things, you know that techie on work experience. Then tell Gates we're grabbing lunch and checking on Agnes Fields on the way back."

"Jenny made me a packed lunch. She always does. Gates knows that."

"Well today is different. Now I'll go speak to Tory and you talk to Gates." With that Esposito strides away from Ryan and down the corridor towards the tech department, leaving his partner to carry out the most important part of the plan.

"Great. Of course Espo. No problem. " Ryan mutters under his breath. Still, his partner had promised Beckett they'd check out Agnes Fields and going back on a promise was not something he wanted to do. But there was no way he was lying to Gates, even if it was only a slight lie. He heads over to the captain's office and knocks on the door.

"Come in, Detective Ryan," comes Gates' voice from inside, "How's that paperwork going? " She looks up at him expectantly over her reading glasses.

"Umm, yeah good," Ryan replies, hesitantly, "We've started but we're gonna need a lot of input from Beckett on most of them, plus taking Castle's mother home took out a chunk of time." He pauses, feeling the pressure both from Gates and from Esposito.

"Well, plenty of time this afternoon to get them polished up," Gates replies, smiling smugly, "especially as Beckett should be back from Lex pretty soon."

Ryan had to mention it now. No doubt Gates was already aware of Beckett's role in the hostage negotiation, but she obviously had no idea how much Beckett was invested in this case. "Umm, well...thing is she wanted us to check out something that came up on the bank robbery." The words come out rushed as Ryan desperately tries to get his point across before Gates interrupts. "There's an old guy, worried something's happened to his wife, but he can't check on her so she wanted me and Esposito to do it..." He tails off. Gates does not look impressed.

"And I suppose that Beckett promised this man that her team would look into it?" Gates asks, sternly.

"Err, yeah..." Ryan is at a loss over what else to say.

Gates sighs and looks straight at Ryan. "Detective Ryan," she says sternly, "You and Esposito better know what you're getting yourselves into. We've had enough absentees from the department today and you two dawdling on this on my watch will get you sent down to traffic first thing tomorrow morning." Ryan looks back at her, shocked at her acceptance of the situation.

"Umm, right…" Ryan replies, hesitantly, "Well, we won't be long, we'll take lunch while we're out." He tails off.

"I want to see that paperwork on my desk by the end of the day." With that, Gates shoos him out of her office and Ryan dutifully steps out. Esposito appears round the corner, grinning slightly.

"She buy it?" He asks Ryan, lowering his voice.

"I told her the truth Javi," Ryan replies, "We can go. But if we mess up we'll get busted down to traffic tomorrow. Oh, and we have to get that paperwork done before we leave tonight." He shrugs, anticipating his partner's disapproval of his inability to lie to their boss.

"Kevin, sometimes I wonder why we work so well together!" Esposito laughs and grabs his coat as they head over to the elevator, "Come on then, before we run out of time to finish that paperwork." He walks off, chuckling to himself, with Ryan following behind him, apprehensive about what they will find at Agnes Fields' house.


	13. Chapter 13

15 minutes later and Esposito and Ryan are outside the Agnes' apartment.

"Agnes Fields, open up!" Esposito shouts, "This is the NYPD!" His phone buzzes as he readies himself to break down the door.

"This doesn't make any sense," Ryan muses, "How can Beckett think this old couple's safety deposit box has anything to do with what's going on in that bank?"

"Maybe everything," Esposito replies gravely, "Beckett said Gideon came to see her, right? I just got a text from Tory, Gideon Fields died four years ago. So, whoever it was talking to Beckett wasn't him."

"Agnes!" Ryan shouts with more urgency, "This is the NYPD, open up please!"

Esposito turns to him, pulling out his gun. "The radio's on."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't go in there, we don't have a warrant and we don't have probable cause." Ryan backs away from the door, motioning for Espo to do the same. He does not.

"Bro. Those hostages' lives could depend on this." Ryan thinks for a moment at his partner's words. If Jenny was in that bank he would not hesitate to do anything he thought could even potentially save her life. Heck, if Castle was in that bank he would do the same, or Beckett, or Lanie, or Gates. Why should these hostages be any different?

"Did you just hear that? I think I just heard someone yell out, 'Help, police!'"

"Help, police!" Esposito responds in a falsetto before returning to his normal tone, "There it is again." He does not need any more of an excuse and promptly kicks down the door. "NYPD!" he shouts as he enters the threshold of the house.

"Agnes?!" Ryan shouts, gun poised. It doesn't take them long to find her, and they both gag before they see her dead body sat at the dining room table.

"Looks like our mystery man was right then," Ryan says, grimacing, "That's Agnes."

"What the hell's going on?" Esposito exclaims. Coming into work for a day of paperwork, he certainly didn't expect to find a dead body at lunch.

"We gotta tell Beckett," Ryan says, hurriedly, "This has got to be linked to the robbery."

"Tell Beckett?" Esposito replies, "This has to go straight to Gates: we've got a case on our hands."

* * *

Gates was surprised by the turn of events, but the boys were gladly relieved of their paperwork duties and she seemed quite happy that they were out of her hair and on an actual homicide case. Now they have the more complex task of explaining to Beckett about the mystery man and what's really happened to his wife.

Esposito dials her number and Ryan hears her muffled hello after only two rings.

"So Beckett, we got some bad news." Esposito begins, putting her on speaker.

"What?" Beckett says urgently, "Are you at Agnes' house?"

"Yeah," Ryan says, appearing behind Esposito, "Agnes is dead."

"Looks like it's been maybe a week," Esposito cuts in, "Ligature marks on her neck indicate strangulation." Ryan raises an eyebrow behind his partner's back: clearly spending all that time with Lanie has paid off for Espo's crime scene investigation skills.

"What'd you find at the crime scene?" Beckett asks, her voice cracking slightly.

"Place is trashed." Esposito answers, "Killer was looking for something. There's a broken key chain necklace on the body, but there's no key."

"Okay," Beckett says slowly, "That might've been where she kept the key for the safety deposit box, seeing as she accessed it so regularly."

"There's another thing..." Esposito pauses for a moment. "Gideon Fields passed away four years ago. That man you spoke to was not Agnes' husband."

"Oh..." Beckett goes quiet, trying to compute this new information, "He was quite hesitant but I just put it down to his age."

"I don't get it." Esposito muses, "This is a little, old, retired librarian. What is that guy lying about who he is, why did he send us to check on Agnes and what could possibly be in her safety deposit box that might have caused all of this?"

"Nazi gold, cold fusion, map to Atlantis..." Ryan muses, examining some of the debris on the floor.

"Hey, Castle Junior," Esposito shouts over at his partner, "Could you maybe start thinking like a cop, please?"

"I am." Ryan replies bluntly.

"Are you?" Esposito raises an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"It had to have been something huge that was worth killing her over, right?" Ryan says, examining something closely. "Hey, Super Cop, check it out."

"What is it?" comes Beckett's voice from the phone, keen to let the boys know she's still on the line.

"It's a bug. It's not from a spy shop either, this looks professional." Ryan holds up the wire and Esposito crouches beside him to examine it. They hear a rustling down the phone line.

"Listen, I need you to dig up everything you can on Agnes Fields. I gotta go." With that, the phone line goes dead. Ryan and Esposito look at each other in a state of disbelief. This day was certainly not going the way they had expected.


	14. Chapter 14

Beckett has always hated it when the boys get competitive, and even more so when she can only hear part of their conversation. She surveys the crime scene and the cordon: the crowd of people is growing every minute and news crews are gathering.

"What is it?" She asks over the phone. This Fields issue is looking more and more like it's related to the robbery and she wants to have as much information to give to Peterson and the rest of his team. However a glint of auburn hair catches her eye and she stifles a gasp.

"Listen, I need you to dig up everything you can on Agnes Fields," she says hurriedly, cutting Ryan off, "I gotta go." She doesn't wait for a response and hangs up the phone, already striding towards the cordon. Castle's daughter was certainly not someone she was expecting to see but if he's been as distant towards his family as he's been towards her all day she shouldn't really be surprised. Alexis as broken through the cordon and rushes towards her.

"They're here, aren't they?" Alexis says, the words spilling out of her mouth, "My dad and gram are in there. I know they were coming to this bank-"

"Alexis," Beckett starts, attempting to interrupt.

"And now no one's answering their phones, and my dad always takes my calls!" Alexis doesn't miss a beat, barely recognising that Beckett said a word to her.

"Listen to me." Beckett says firmly.

"And you're here!" Alexis finishes, now looking to Beckett for an explanation.

"Alexis, your dad and Martha are fine," Beckett informs her, keeping her voice steady, "They were late for the appointment and saw the robbers come in. They were still outside when it all kicked off. Your gram's gone home and Castle's round by command. He was a bit shaken up by the whole thing. He feels like he should've been in there, like he could be more help inside than out." He hasn't said that but Beckett knows him well enough that the best way her partner works is inside the action, even if things don't always go quite to plan. His sulky demeanour all day only serves to emphasise that fact to her.

"But he's not answering my calls, neither is gram, and this was all on the news-" Alexis clearly hadn't heard Beckett's response properly. Spelling it out for Castle's daughter was proving to be difficult but at that moment a familiar figure rounds the corner and starts to jog towards them.

"Dad!" Alexis shrieks, throwing her arms round her father in relief.

"Alexis?" Castle asks, confused to return to the crime scene and find his daughter, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you were inside!" Alexis says, releasing her grip from his waist, "You didn't answer the phone, I was so scared, I thought I'd lost you!"

"Hey, it's ok," Castle says, laying his arm on her shoulder, "I'm sorry, my phone was on silent when we were in the command post. Gram was probably on her way back to the loft or on the phone to me when you called. We're both OK, I'm so sorry."

"Castle, maybe you should take Alexis home, there's not much you can do here after all." Beckett says. A tearful Alexis surprised her more than she expected and her mind is racing. Relating to Castle has been bad enough since Montgomery's funeral but his daughter is another level that she didn't anticipate. Now she realises that relating to Castle's family is another thing she has to think about and her head is buzzing. As much as she wants Castle around, right now she's not sure she can control herself.

"Oh no Beckett," Castle says, eagerly, "Thing is I've been thinking and I think there's more to that mystery man. See, why would he be so keen to get into that box today-"

"Castle." Beckett interrupts, "Ryan and Espo just went to his wife's house. She's been strangled and her safety deposit key is gone. And the real Gideon Fields is dead. That man was an imposter. I know there's more to him." She sees Alexis surveying them both and turns to her, gesturing towards the cordon. "Alexis, can you go and stand over there with that officer, you can't be in the cordon. I need to speak to your dad and then I'll get someone to take you home. Both of you." She looks Castle sternly in the eye. Alexis looks up at him too, searching for approval.

"Go on, honey," Castle says to his daughter, "You really shouldn't be here." He hugs her again and then she dutifully walks over to the officer at the cordon, just as Beckett asks. Castle then turns to his partner, "What's up, Kate?"

"Not here." Kate replies bluntly, "Not with Alexis watching." She turns and heads back to where Castle emerged from and he follows, intrigued. Maybe things were about to change for them.


End file.
